Over the next weeks and months Maarifa’s friends faithfully prayed for him and encouraged him to go back to school and be reinstated in the project.

Kilifi, Kenya

After being forced to leave a Compassion project in Kilifi, Kenya, due to misbehaviour in 2012, Maarifa Tsori left school, spending much of his time on the streets. But what seemed like a glim future for Maarifa all changed when some former classmates who were taking part in Alpha committed themselves to pray for him. It was in a session on prayer that the students collectively remembered their former classmate Maarifa. They prayed for him and eventually reached out to him, asking him to join Alpha with them. He had been out of school for many months at this point and agreed to join.

Inspired by Alpha-Youth and the prayer of his friends, he obliged, and the following year he returned to school. It is amazing to see Alpha inspiring these kids, and empowering them through prayer, to reach out to their friends and classmates and in so doing be a source of hope and encouragement.